Go East
Go East is a project for the "Collegio di Cina" by Michela Contini, Marco Ravaglia, Alessandro Rigolon. The College of China is an institution which promotes cultural exchange between the university of Bologna and Chinese students. The programme includes offices, lecture rooms, an auditorium, spaces for expositions, a cafeteria, a restaurant, and rooms for guest professors and students. Location Bologna, Italy Project description Site The college's site is located inside an enclosure, next to many other university buildings (including Palazzina della Viola, a Fifteenth century leisure house of a local aristocratic family Bentivoglio), at the end of via Filippo Re. The urban structure looks very fragmented, with several buildings located in a green area but there are no links between them. It almost looks like a suburban area... We noticed that a built element that could give unification to the environment was necessary. On the north and east sides the site is enclosed by a well-conserved part of the Fourteenth Century city walls, which were almost completely demolished during the 1800s. The walls were reinforced with embankments in the internal side, which now show dense and tall vegetation. One feels that it's the conclusion of something, you only can come back when you are there. On the west side the University's Botanic Garden provides further shading and vegetation. We think that in the actual state people cannot notice the presence of the city walls, for a lack of attention in the configuration of the public spaces, infact there is no pedestrian path in the campus, no activity outside. The landscape of the whole campus needs to be changed, providing differents zones (man, nature, car), and pedestrian links. Concept The design proposal is moved by the desire to unify the separated “objects”, and to give coherence to the whole campus’ landscape. The long building that is the result of our thinking exits from the earth and grows higher and higher: you can even walk on it, until the final volume of the auditorium. It becomes hill and the hill becomes building, along the ancient city walls, trying to melange the landscape with the building. The only façade is the southern one, where the sober character of brise soleil is broken by diagonal cuts. The building also provides a link with the ring road out of the city walls, by a cantilever structure that passes over it. The interior is characterized by a court around which are located the rooms for the students and professor: this configuration aims to be a contemporary interpretation of the ancient Chinese court-house. The other interior spaces are treated with several double volumes and changing ceiling height. Every separate “unit” (display space, library, cafeteria, auditorium, etc) has an independent entrance, and an internal circulation between them is provided too. Drawings *Image:go_east_2000.pdf First drawing *Image:go_east_500.pdf Second drawing *Image:go_east_terra.pdf Third drawing *Image:go_east_int.pdf Forth drawing *Image:go_east_primo.pdf Fifth drawing *Image:go_east_secondo.pdf Sixth drawing *Image:go_east_terzo.pdf Seventh drawing *Image:go_east_sect1.pdf Eighth drawing *Image:go_east_sect2.pdf Nineth drawing *Image:go_east_prosp.pdf Tenth drawing *Image:go_east_part.pdf Eleventh drawing Related projects Other Collegio di Cina projects *Collegio di Cina External links *College of China official website (English/Italian/Chinese) Category:Projects in Italy Category:Projects in Bologna Category:Educational Buildings